In hydrocarbon gasification processes, solid fuels such as wood, agricultural wastes, and the like, are gasified to generate a gaseous fuel. Specifically, such gasification processes may convert a feedstock of biomass or other hydrocarbon into a gaseous mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, i.e., a synthetic gas or a syngas referred to as a producer gas, by reaction with oxygen and steam in a gasifier. These gases then may be cleaned, processed, and utilized as a fuel in an engine to produce electricity. In other systems, the producer gas may be used to generate power, to produce fuel for heating, or to generate chemical products such as Fisher Tropsch liquids and the like
Examples of such agricultural waste products include sugarcane and the like. Such biomass feedstock materials tend to be fibrous. As such, the biomass feedstock materials may tend to bridge across the interior of a gasifier when fed therein. Such a biomass bridge, when formed, may reduce the flow of the feedstock materials into the reaction zone and thus may have an impact on the output of the producer gas in terms of composition and flow rate.
One known method of reducing the bridging of feedstock materials in a gasifier involves an operator physically poking the bridge of feedstock materials with a pole. The need for operator intervention, however, may expose the operator to higher than normal levels of reaction product gases as well as exposure to the hot surfaces of the gasifier. Moreover, the need of operator intervention generally is not detected until there is some degradation in the overall performance of the gasifier.
There is thus a desire for an improved biomass gasifier. Preferably such an improved gasifier may prevent or limit the bridging of feedstock materials such as biomass materials so as to ensure a constant output of syngas without requiring manual operator intervention.